


Her Morning Elegance She Wears

by glamaphonic



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Character of Color, Character Study, Dysfunctional Family, Female Character of Color, Female Friendship, Gen, POV Character of Color, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-20
Updated: 2009-11-20
Packaged: 2017-10-03 11:51:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glamaphonic/pseuds/glamaphonic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her mother tells her to smile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Morning Elegance She Wears

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meredyd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meredyd/gifts).



"Your father has been awarded a post," her mother says. "We leave for Omashu within the week. And please stay out of the way when the servants are packing your things. I've already given them their instructions."

Mai doesn't respond. Her mother doesn't expect her to.

 

*

 

It is a matter of respect that she must give Azula a formal farewell. Such an important connection should never be severed.

The princess's moods have been more erratic in the months since Ty Lee's departure.

Mai does not flatter Azula enough, and Azula expects to be entertained, not to do the entertaining. They are beset by long silences, a vacuum waiting to be filled by Ty Lee's ceaseless prattling.

Their balance has been disrupted and Mai thinks that it is much like three years before when they found themselves absent a fourth.

Azula would never admit that was a loss.

"Say hello to Zuzu if you happen to see him floating out there," Azula says with a vicious smirk.

Mai knows they all felt it.

*

 

They and their escort pass no other ships.

 

*

 

Omashu is dusty and strange. But the places they are allowed (in the interest of their own safety one must understand) are not so different from the capital.

She and her mother take turns around the winding walks of the former palace as it is redesigned, forced into disappointing sameness: Fire Nation architecture on top of squat Earth Kingdom pragmatism.

They are the sovereign family now and must be seen.

Her mother is delighted, her life's goal achieved. She tells Mai to smile.

Mai grimaces and wonders if it's possible that the whole world is so very small.

 

*

 

Early in the morning, as the sun rises, Mai sits in the window of the room arranged exactly as the one in which she grew up and waits for her life to begin.


End file.
